Charter Panel Expected To Close 8-month Study

June 16, 1986|by HAL MARCOVITZ, The Morning Call

The Bucks County Government Study Commission is expected to bring its eight-month review of county government virtually to an end tonight when the panel decides whether changes are needed in the administration of the courthouse.

Members of the panel who were questioned said there is little chance the board will favor the drafting of a home-rule charter, a move that would extend the life of the commission for months.

An action that appears open to the members is a recommendation for placement of an "optional plan" government on the November ballot. Such a plan could replace the county commission form of government with one administered by a councilmanic-executive form.

The other move that members are considering is to recommend no change in government.

Study Commissioner Robert E. Goldman, a member of the 5-4 GOP majority, said he favors no change in the current form of government.

"It's not that I give five gold stars to the present form of government, but I'm not convinced the alternatives are attractive," said Goldman.

When proponents of a government study started their drive to establish the commission last year, they claimed the current form of government is responsible for the continual disputes between the Republican and Democratic parties over patronage hiring.

Goldman said he is convinced that patronage would be a fact of life in the courthouse no matter which political party is in power and no matter which form of government is in place.

Goldman added that he has seen little evidence that the voters of Bucks County are demanding any type of change. He said public participation at commission meetings has been at a minimum, including attendance at two study panel sessions specifically taken on the road to bring the government study message directly to the voters.

"There is no resounding echo going across the county for a change," said Goldman.

Study Commissioner Ralph O. Samuel believes, though, that a change in government is necessary. Samuel, a Democrat, said he is convinced that the panel will not favor a home-rule charter, but its members may be persuaded to back an optional plan.

A home-rule charter could mean a total overhaul of government. The charter could include dramatic changes in how Bucks Countians are governed, including such proposals as a cap on tax rates.

But the charter would take many more months to write, a factor Samuel believes the majority of the study commissioners want to avoid.

"I think they feel it's time to make a decision of some sort," said Samuel.

The optional plan is a code that has already been written by the State Legislature but has been implemented by few counties. If the commission recommends the plan, it would have to be placed before the voters in a referendum in order for it to be put in place.

And since the optional plan has already been written, the commission's job would be completed once it is recommended for ballot status.

Of course, if the recommendation is for no change the study panel's work would also be nearly completed.

Goldman said some members have indicated they would like to write their own reports in the coming weeks, in the event the recommendation is for no change. The reports would carry no weight, but would serve as a forum for the individual members to express their own opinions.

The main feature of an optional plan is the replacement of the county commissioners with a council and an executive, who would in some respects act as a mayor of Bucks County. In addition, all elected row officers with the exception of the district attorney, controller and treasurer would be replaced by appointed officials.

Among the row officers that could be eliminated would be the register of wills, recorder of deeds and prothonotary.

Samuel said the feature he likes most about the optional plan is that it provides for a council of at least five members, which would be more representative of the electorate than the three-member county commission.

Study Commissioner Janet Walker, a Democrat, said she favors a homerule charter but concedes the votes for such a radical change are not on the commission. With that in mind, Walker said she would cast her ballot in favor of an optional plan.

Walker, a former Council Rock school director, said she would try to convince the study panelists to make the executive's post appointed rather than elected under the theory that the administrator of county government should have powers more akin to a school superintendent than a mayor.

"I've had a positive experience with that form of government," she said.